The CEO of PagerDuty has issued an apology after being lambasted for being tone-deaf for citing Martin Luther King Jr. in an email concerning mass layoffs.
The email also included information about an executive promotion, which made Tejada regret quoting the Civil Rights trailblazer in an "inappropriate and insensitive" manner.
Tejada Expresses Regret Regarding The Email
Tejada detailed more changes being made by the digital operations management company in a 1,700-word email, including the promotion of some executives and cost cuts.
Tejada concludes that the occasion made her think of King's phrase, "The ultimate measure of a [leader] is not where [they] stand in the moments of comfort and convenience, but where [they] stand in times of challenge and controversy."
Critics reacted negatively to her email, with one professional describing it as a new low for a layoff announcement, CBS News reports.
In a brief message on her company's website on Friday, Tejada clarified that adopting King's quotation was "inappropriate and insensitive."
Tejada admitted to regretting sending the email on January 24 in which she announced layoffs or, as she put it, "refinements."
The CEO apologized and stated that, looking back, she would have handled the situation better in a follow-up email to the staff sent on Friday.
"I should have been more upfront about the layoffs in the email, more thoughtful about my tone, and more concise. I am sorry," the announcement reads.
The PagerDuty CEO continued by saying that the way she announced the layoffs caused the business to lose focus on its key priority.
She adds that the company should have put its attention on treating its workers with the decency, respect, and gratitude they deserve, Gizmodo writes.
However, for the 7% of employees that were let go, Tejada did announce respectable severance payments, which included 11 weeks of pay and extended healthcare coverage.
Read More: PayPal to Layoff 2,000 Employees Over the Next Few Weeks
PagerDuty Is One Of The Tech Companies Hit By Recent Tech Industry Layoffs
In an effort to "drive efficient growth and enhance operating margins," PagerDuty let go 7% of its personnel, according to a regulatory filing.
At the time of the layoffs, the San Francisco-based cloud startup with 950 workers that specializes in incident response for IT organizations had 66 employees.
To continue to increase operational resiliency and agility, improvements include "reallocating certain roles and realigning teams, and rationalizing the Company's real estate footprint."
Dave Justice, PagerDuty's chief revenue officer, has also informed the company that he would leave his job effective February 3, according to CRN.
The company's former senior vice president of North American sales and client acquisition, Jeremy Kmet, was promoted to senior vice president of worldwide field operations.
A number of tech organizations, including Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and others, have recently experienced layoffs.
It is important to note that interest rates have increased, and inflation has curbed wasteful spending across the economy as the global IT boom has largely ended.
Related Article: Amazon Sets For Another Round Of Layoffs Affecting 18,000 Employees
